A Day in the Life of Naruto Uzumaki
by Sincarel
Summary: A young Anko is thrown into the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility after being retrieved from her abandonment by Orochimaru. Here she meets a strange boy with flickering red eyes. Can Anko manage to survive, or will he be the end of her?


**A Day in the Life of Naruto Uzumaki**

**(Not so) Solitary**

"_Useless."_

"_Worthless"_

"_Defective"_

These were the only words running through her mind. Over and over the broken-record mantra played. Anko was only vaguely aware of the passage of time since her rejection - her failure. Had it been a week, a month, or more? She had only been awake for short periods of time while being moved from where the ANBU had discovered her in Orochimaru's abandoned base in Wave Country to where she was currently being held.

Clenching her muscles at the memory, Anko tried to avoid that line of thought, instead feeling out her surroundings. Cold, hard, wet, and threatening...the very air seemed to be holding still trying not to provoke the ominous atmosphere. Eyes blinking, the young teen's first vision was of a pair of red, evil eyes fixated on her. Just as soon as she thought she saw them , they were gone, replaced by a dirty blond boy hunched in the corner of what appeared to be a cell. Focus shifting from him to her surroundings, Anko found no comfort. The dark, damp concrete of the room was covered in what appeared to be claw marks; its only features a tiny hole in one corner and a small slot in the door, which proved to be the source of what little light entered the room.

Sitting up, Anko felt the chill of the floor on her bare feet. Looking down, she saw her boots had been removed, apparently by the boy, who was now wearing them. Seeing her looking at him, the boy finally growled out, " They're mine. If you touch them...I'll kill you." Something about the boy, who looked like he couldn't be more then eleven or twelve years old told her not to argue with him. Taking her silence as acceptance, he boy continued, "Hey, do you...like boys?"

"I...uh...wha...," Anko's confused stuttering was interrupted before she could even really comprehend what he had asked her.

"'Cause the last guy they shoved in here did. You see him? NO! That's cause I killed him," not getting the kind of response he wanted the boy started radiating killer intent, eyes seemly flashing a bloody red shade of rage. Again just as she thought she saw the red glow, it was gone as the slit in the door was slammed open.

"Knock it off in there or you will go another week without food!" When the killer intent faded the guard continued, "Alright newbie, here's the drill. Face down on the floor, hands clasped behind your back. You so much as twitch you get the rod. Got it?"

Anko mutely nodded before doing as told, seeing the boy do the same with practiced ease. The door swung open to reveal five armed guards who swarmed the room. The first four piled onto the boy, quickly shackling his hands and feet. They rewarded his compliance with a couple swift kicks to his side before roughly dragging him to his feet. Anko found herself hauled up by the back of her shirt, but was otherwise unrestrained.

As the group walked (and in the boys case shuffled) down the dungeon halls, Anko overheard one of the guards, "She lived through the night. You owe me a hundred ryo."

"Shit I thought he would have killed and eaten her inside of an hour. I mean, it's been what a month since he was fed?" The rest of their banter was drowned out by the ruckus coming from the transfer cell they were approaching.

Anko was pushed in first, quickly followed by the now unshackled boy as he was kicked through the portal, and the door hastily locked behind them.

**Cafeteria**

Numbly, Anko stood with her tray in the meal line. Feeling the eyes of the room's other occupants on her, Anko half-turned to the prison population, of which a good number were ogling her lewdly or sizing her up.

"Dude, don't mess with that. I heard she's Orochimaru's daughter."

"Didn't she try to assassinate the Hokage's grand-kid?"

"...all I know is they stuck her in with Red-eyes and she is still here. Think about that before you start scheming."

Almost dropping her tray, Anko receive a none-too-gentle nudge from the boy, Red-eyes, himself . Following his gaze to the only open seats, Anko tensely walked over to the indicated spot among the whistles and cat calls. Sitting down, she noticed that the rest of the crowded table immediately vacated as Red-eyes sat down next to her. Shrugging it off, Anko suddenly found herself nearly overcome with ravenous hunger, but came up short as he realized she didn't have anything to eat with. Glancing around Anko saw that no one did; they were using their dirty-bare hands to eat. Struggling past her disgust, Anko was about to reach into the rice when a pair of shoddy looking chop sticks entered her vision. Red-eyes was staring at her expectantly as she took them. "Than..." was all she got out before he interrupted her.

"Now you owe me, and if you don't repay your debt...I'll kill you," Anko nearly choked as he happily started in on his own food with a fork made of wire.

Anko licked her lips nervously but was saved from having to reply as a gang of men led by a scarred, muscle-bound man approached. "Have a good time down there in solitary?" Shrewd eyes darted from Red-eyes to Anko and back, "In fact if you were older then a little twerp, I'd know you had a good time down there with this little kitten keeping you warm. How about it kitten? Want to warm me up? Shower room, tonight, you me and a few of these fine gentlemen?"

Whatever innuendo was left unsaid, the large man was suddenly interrupted as the blond spun around on the bench and plunged his wire fork into the mans gut. Faster then anyone could react the boy was standing on the table, one arm spinning the much larger man around and holding his arm in a painful lock, while the other held the bloody fork to the man's throat. "How about you let me enjoy my meal in peace before I gut you and add your entrails to my desert?" The large man nervously swallowed and instantly regretted it as the sharp, pointed ends of the wire dug into his throat. "Anyone else have a pressing matter that needs my attention? Anyone? Now's the time, cause once we are through here, I _really_ would be put out if I am interrupted again." Only tense head shakes and restrained snarls answered the boy's question. "No one? Okay, you had your chance, don't complain when I gut you next time." A quick kick sent the cowed leader back to his cronies and the boy sat back down as if he had simply got up to grab a napkin or unwrinkle his shirt. The men seemed to master their rage and walk away muttering promises of revenge.

Anko nervously continued to eat as she noticed the boy hadn't bothered to wipe the blood off his fork before digging into his meal with a bit too much enthusiasm.

**Down the mine shaft**

Clank.

Clank.

Clank.

**CRASH!**

In the dim, dusty light Anko could see the boy had paused his ceaseless swinging to see what the commotion was at the sound of the pick slipping from her blistered hands and crashing loudly to the stone floor. Anko had thought she was in good shape; she had to be to survive training from her sensei, no, ex-sensei, but after hours of endlessly swinging the pick she had been issued, (You damage it. we damage you!) Anko was dead on her feet. "How...long...do...this?"

Cocking an eye at her the boy looked at her like she had asked a stupid question, "Till dinner." Seeing her confused and searching expression he turned an ear to the tunnel behind them and listened intently for a few seconds. "Hmm, another eight or nine more hours I'd say."

Just as he was lifting his pick for another strike Anko, having somewhat caught her breath, risked another question, "How can you tell time down here? We don't have a watch or even some sunlight to go by..."

The boy swung, sparks from the impact light up his face, "Rhythm of the digging. No sounds of anyone getting desperate and fighting yet."

Nodding Anko bent over and began piling the tilings from the rock face into one of the many empty buckets the boy had hauled down with him. Coughing at the dust filled air, Anko decided to try and take advantage of the boy's good mood to get some more information out of him, "You seem to be really knowledgeable about what goes on around here." She could see the slight smile play at the corner of his mouth, "Why doesn't anyone use a jutsu to escape? I mean this is the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility, so everyone down here is a ninja right?"

"Not everyone..." Anko could have swore she saw a shadow of sadness cross the boy's face, "Mmm, someone once told me there is something in to rock down here that messes with chakra, and most of us have had restriction seals placed on us to make sure we can't mold chakra or fight too well." The boy looked at his progress for the day and nodded to himself. "Guess that's good enough progress. Lets take a quick breather and really hit it with our second wind!" Anko stared at the boy like he had claimed that dango was disgusting or that the Forth Hokage was 'a pretty good' ninja. Sitting down on one of the buckets, he took a long pull from the canteen before offering what was left to her.

Sipping the water, Anko watched as the boy simply closed his eyes and hummed a tuneless melody to himself. Despite her better judgment Anko finally had to ask the question that had been eating at her since the indecent in the cafeteria that morning, "So, like...what are you in for?" Wow, it hadn't sounded that lame in her head.

The boy stopped his humming and seemed to be deep in thought, "Hmm, don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know! You're in the most secure prison in Fire Country, you don't get in here for pick-pocketing or jay walking! This is where they lock up all the terrible mon..."Anko slapped her hands over her stupid, suicidal mouth as soon as the word began to form in her mouth.

The boys stared at his (her!) boots before getting up and grabbing his pick. Anko was already tensing to try and roll out of the way when he turned his back to her, "Well, guess you already knew the answer then, didn't you? Better get back to work."

Hours passed. Clank, clank, clank. Even just the sound of the pick hitting the wall send tendrils of pain up her arms as Anko worked to collect the rock as fast as the boy was cleaving it from the mine face. How long had it been now? A few minutes, hours? Felt like it had been days, but she doubted the skinny boy would pass up his second meal today...or this month, or whatever. Finally, Anko decided she'd rather be dead then listen to nothing but the incessant clanging, "Don't the guards like check on us or something?"

"Too many places to hide a body down here," the boy intoned.

"How do they know that we are digging?" Anko asked.

"They keep track of how many buckets you send back up. If you don't meet your quota, you don't get to leave for dinner."

"They...they just leave people down here?" Anko's eyes darted to what was left of the candles they had brought down with them and tried to estimate how long they would last.

"Yeah, I saw a guy last 4 days down here once. Well last isn't really the right word..." Anko shivered at the thought. "I guess if you don't want to dig you could just kill somebody and take his work, but most of them that last more then a couple days down here group up, so it's not as easy as it sounds..." Red-eyes paused as if he was considering if it was worth it or not. Shrugging his shoulders he swung his pick for the millenth time.

"Why are you digging down?"

"Huh?"

"Well if no one checks on you, and all that matters is how much rock you bring up. Why not dig up and hope you can dig your way out?"

"The rule is: no digging up," The boy stated.

"And you actually care about the rules?" Anko asked skeptically.

"Well, of coarse everyone else digs up. Guess what you said must be the reason why...but if I dug up then one of the big groups would probably come and try to take my tunnel since I work faster then the lot of them," the boy trailed off considering the question.

"So you dig down so you can dig in peace?" Anko looked skeptical.

"Pretty much."

Maybe he wasn't the brightest one after all, "So, what is the daily quota ?"

"Never really thought to ask."

Yeah probably not the brightest...

**Dinner Time in the Cafeteria**

Fourteen hours down in the dusty, dark hole later, Anko found herself staring at the food on her dinner tray. It wasn't that she wasn't hungry, actually she was starving, but her abused hands simply could not feed her. Her eyes drifted to the shower room doors again, but Anko wasn't a stupid young woman, she knew what would await her there and wisely stayed away.

Her dour thoughts were interrupted as the dusty (literally) blond boy traded trays with her."If you're not going to eat it..."

Seeing him lean in close as he slide her tray over to his waiting fork, Anko suddenly become aware of just how much she must stink. Just glancing over at the boy, who she suddenly noted never really seemed winded or sweat drenched despite hours of swinging his pickax, disputed that idea though. Then again, he probably was used to it. Anko watched as he finished off her meal and picked up the smoldering cigarette he was finishing off. "How long have you been in here?"

"Long as I can remember, probably longer," he chuckled. "In a hurry to get out? How long you got?"

"I haven't been sentenced yet..." Anko said dejectedly.

"Ooo that's usually not a good sign. Being stuck down here without even a trial? Even I know that's messed up." Seeing her look of panic he decided to back off a bit, "What did you do anyway?"

"My sensei...ex-sensei was a...did some really bad things..."

"And you helped him?"

"Not really. He never let me help with anything important...I-I can't really remember things very clearly for some reason..." Anko's neck itched and she fought the urge to rub the now marked flesh under her collar.

"Probably just a mistake then..." He didn't really sound very sure of that, or very reassuring.

**Prison Cell #0**

It wasn't until Anko was tossed back into the dank cell that she really lost her composure. The day's events compounded with thinking about her sensei's...ex-sensei's hate filled abandonment suddenly was too much. Eyes clinched tight, silent tears rolled down her dusty cheeks. Her body ached. Her hands and bare feet still wept from the days sores and cuts. Anko nearly jumped out of her abused skin when the small but strong hands took hers and raised them up to the boys lips. His pink tongue flashed out across her filthy, bloody palm. "Wha-what are you-you do-doing?"

"Feels better doesn't it?" The boy didn't wait for her answer and repeated the motion with her other hand. As creepy as it was, Anko was surprised how the sensation seemed to over power the pain burning in her hands. Both teens locked eyes and Anko's mind suddenly went blank as she found her own lips moving to meet his...

Bang! The shutter on the door opened. "All right you guys know the drill. Seems the little misses here wasn't supposed to be in here after all."

Anko's mind was a maelstrom of emotions and thoughts:

_"I'm getting out?"_

_ "It was a mistake?"_

_ "What was he about to do?"_

_ "I'm not going to die down in this hole!"_

_ "I wish he was coming with me..."_

Where did that one come from? Anko's eyes widened as the boy was being roughly held down on the cell floor. The lead guard hoisted (a bit more gently then last time) Anko up from the ground. As she was being led out, Anko turned back to the dangerous, mysterious, cruel and kind boy, "My name is Anko. Anko Mitarashi. What's yours?"

The boy struggled to get his head up off the floor to smile a toothy smile, "Naruto Uzumaki. Remember it!" One of the guards smashing the boy's face back into the floor. That was Anko's last sight of Naruto, as she was tugged out of the cell and into the hallway.

Soon the sounds of the guards died away, and just like that Naruto was left alone in his cold, hard, wet cell. Not hearing any of the guards returning Naruto stretched out on the floor and pulled out the lighter he had just pilfered. Lighting up a cigarette, he smiled an all too innocent smile and began his tuneless humming again, "Yeah, today was definitely a pretty good day..."


End file.
